Hope in Oblivion
by peterbazooca
Summary: Rebecca Chambers is injured and needs a little help getting back on her feet. Oneshot, potentially a twoshot, please r&r!


Okay, so this is my first real attempt at some kind of completed story, and my first forey into Resident Evil fan fiction....so please be kind! And review, I need the constructive criticism, or the flames so I know to just give it up...any-who this is just a little oneshot set during the ongoing fight against Umbrella.

Disclaimer: I own nothing nor gain anything from the writing of this fic, I just did this to entertain myself :)

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The cold steel corridor echoed back the pounding footfalls of an ex-S.T.A.R.S member, the unyielding edifice of metal seeming to mock her futile escape effort. Rebecca Chambers ran, gripping her bleeding right arm tightly. Her attempt to take down the terrible, horse-like experiment that had escaped from its rather flimsy holding cell hadn't exactly gone according to plan, and now she ran as fast as she could, racing down empty corridors, praying that she could outrun the nightmare. Not that running had ever helped her escape the scars Umbrella's exploits had left on her, physical or mental. None of them would ever be able to outrun the nightmare, but each one of them had pledged to do all in their power to bring down the corporation, whatever the cost. After Chris had returned from Antarctica with his sister, Claire, they had set out to infiltrate an Umbrella lab in Hungary, Barry and Jill tagging along. Speaking of Jill…

_I'm gonna kick Jill's skinny butt when I see her again…_if_ I see her again._ It had been Jill's suggestion that the team split up in order to search the facility more swiftly. Their task was to gather information and get out as quickly as they could. Amazingly enough, the team had encountered a total of five marine guards, and so far absolutely no employees. Not questioning their luck, the five of them had gone their separate ways. Rebecca had been searching the top level of research labs when the huge black horse had attacked. Needless to say flight seemed a better course of action than fight. The thing was huge, mutated and feral looking, and the deep gash now present on her upper right arm had prevented her from fighting back properly.

She bolted around a corner she ran smack into Chris, bouncing off of his inflated muscles and falling to the cold steel floor.

"Whoa, Rebecca," Chris said, startled, as he reached out to pull her to her feet. "You okay?"

"Zombie…horse…thing," she gasped out, trying to catch her breath as Chris stared at her with uncomprehending eyes. Rebecca opened her mouth to explain more fully, but before she could speak the B.O.W in question hurtled around the corner of the hallway, massive green tentacles thrashing wildly around its face. Those tentacles hadn't been there when the thing had attacked her.

_Shit._ One of its tentacles whipped out faster than her eyes could follow; Chris shoved her, hard, pushing her out of the way. He caught the tentacle in the gut as the monster knocked him away, like it was flicking a fly off a bothersome fly. Rebecca stumbled but remained on her feet, bringing her pistol up and aiming at one of the creature's dozen or so eyes. She pulled the trigger, watching with a horrified satisfaction as the eye popped and the poor creature let out an angry wail of pain. She fired again, aiming higher, but one of the flailing appendages swiped her legs out from under her, and her shot when wide. The creature picked her up, the slimy limb coiling tightly around her middle as it swung her up and slammed her back down, over and over again.

"Rebecca!" Chris cried out, taking aim but holding his fire, afraid to hit her. Rebecca fired wildly at any part of the creature she could draw a bead on, hearing it squeal in agony, but it continued to pound her into the floor. On the fifth strike her gun flew from her hand, clattering to the ground as the back of her head ricocheted off of the floor with a dull _thunk_. From her vantage point in the creature's grasp, Rebecca saw Jill and Claire come racing down the hallway, Barry close behind, guns up. Claire skidded to a halt and braced her high-powered rifle against her shoulder, aiming carefully before she pulled the trigger. The creature dropped Rebecca, charging Claire and the others. Rebecca landed in a heap on the ground, her head striking the floor sharply, her vision fading alarmingly.

_Probably a concussion_ she mused, blinking groggily. She knew she had to stay awake, or she'd risk ending up in a coma. She forced her eyelids open, blinking away the blood that was steadily dipping down the side of her face. Everything seemed to slow down; she watched her friends unloading full clips into the creature as it charged them. Her fingers twitched as she closed them around the handle of her gun, willing her other limbs to move, to raise her from her prone position in the basement level of an Umbrella research laboratory, but her body simply wouldn't obey her commands. She blinked once more, only this time her eyes didn't open again, and she drifted serenely into peaceful darkness.

Rebecca stood in the middle of oblivion, surrounded on all sides by perfect darkness. She had no idea if she was dead or alive, but she thought she could sense her heart beating, faintly, almost like the memory of a heartbeat. She tried to move and found it easier than she remembered, for she was no longer bogged down by injuries or human frailties. As she began to wonder if she truly was dead, she heard a gruff voice from somewhere in the impenetrable darkness.

"Hey, Rebecca; glad to see you survived." Rebecca turned, startled out of her serene acceptance of her surroundings at the sound of a voice she hadn't heard in almost two years. Enrico Marini stood before her, smiling, still in his S.T.A.R.S uniform. His form was shimmering and hazy, blurred at the edges, but he was smiling, and Rebecca couldn't see any sign of the injuries that had caused his death. Rebecca tried to walk forward, discovered that her legs did indeed still work; she took one hesitant step towards her old captain, but stopped when other hazy forms began to coalesce all around Enrico. Soon Rebecca Chambers faced her departed teammates-Edward, Sully, Richard, and Forest. They all stood there and smiled at her, and Rebecca could feel the sting of tears gathering in her eyes. After a moment of struggling, she finally found her voice.

"What are you all doing here? Am I…dead?"

Edward grinned down at her, his eyes sparkling, just like they used to, before Umbrella. "No, not yet, at least; but you might be soon if you don't wake up."

"We're just here to get you back on your feet," Richard added, taking a step towards her.

"Where are we?"

"Not sure," Edward replied, gazing around at the shadows with wide, curious eyes. "Limbo, maybe; no one told us."

"What am I supposed to do? Do I…do I have to go back?" She knew that she should return to Jill and the others, she ought to be there for her team, but it was so serene in this land of night, free of pain and worry, able to see her friends once more.

"You don't have to wake up," Enrico told her, cocking an eyebrow. "You could just pass on."

"Yeah, it's not so bad on the other side," Richard jumped in, nudging her with a semi-corporeal arm. "Free cable twenty-four seven!"

Rebecca laughed, blinking back the tears that had gathered in her eyes.

"But," Enrico continued, his softly shimmering face slipping once more into the stern, almost grave appearance it had so often borne in life. "You'd be—"

"Giving up," Rebecca finished, reading the answer in her captain's dark eyes. "On my friends, on the fight against Umbrella…on myself."

Enrico nodded, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a slight smile. Rebecca glanced around at the semicircle of her friends and teammates, all bearing the same resignedly somber expressions of ones witnessing some momentous occurrence. Rebecca clenched her fists, fighting back the fresh tears that had sprung into her eyes. She gazed upon the faces around her and told them in a gently trembling voice, "I miss you guys. I'm sorry that I let you down, I'm sorry that I couldn't save you."

Forest draped his opaque arm across her shoulders, saying, "Don't be sorry, Becca. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes," Enrico agreed. "Umbrella's to blame, and that bastard Wesker, for betraying us."

"I'll take down Umbrella," Rebecca pledged, her eyes flitting from face to face. "For all of you, whatever it takes. I won't let them hurt anyone else."

"That's the spirit," Edward said, chuckling slightly at her fierce tone. "And don't worry, you're not alone in this. We're with ya."

"Till the end," Sully added. As Rebecca let her tears fall freely, the apparitions of her friends began to fade, until she stood once more engulfed in darkness. Overwhelmed and exhausted, she collapsed to her knees, crying silently.

"Rebecca," the whisper was so faint, Rebecca thought that she had imagined it. She looked up, but nothing was out of place in her shadow world, her limbo. "Good to see you, Doll face."

Rebecca's heart stopped at the sound of the dark, smooth voice, at the rather unbecoming nickname. Slowly, the silhouette of Billy Coen manifested in front of her.

"Billy," Rebecca stumbled to her feet and ran to him, stopping short as her racing thoughts tried to bring some ounce of logic to her situation. "If you're here, does that mean that you're dead?"

"Dead?" Billy laughed, reaching out to brush her bangs out of her eyes. His touch felt different than those of Edward and Richard, less solid. "No way, not me. I'm just here to help you…_choose_."

Rebecca's mind worked overtime, trying to figure out how any of what she had seen could possibly be, and coming up empty of any logical solution. Billy's memory, as she decided these manifestations of people close to her must be, stepped forward, cradling her face between his large hands as he gently passed his thumbs across her cheeks, wiping away the tears there. "You need to get up, Rebecca. You need to fight. Your team needs you."

Rebecca closed her eyes, reveling in the sound of Billy's voice and his warm hands on her skin. She was at peace in oblivion, and knew if she decided not to wake up, she could rest forever, not have to worry about monsters or evil pharmaceutical companies. She could see her friends again, be with her family.

Rebecca blinked and opened her eyes to find the memory of a man she'd longed to see again for over a year staring down at her, a small smile touching his lips.

"You're right," she said, sighing deeply. "I need to go back."

Billy leaned forward, his opaque lips brushing gently across her forehead. "Step lively, Becks, there's monsters afoot."

Rebecca laughed at his words, beaming up at him. He began to fade, like the others, until only his voice was left calling, "Rebecca, you have to get up! Come on, Rebecca!"

Rebecca was thrust into pain and bright light in the space of a heartbeat. Her head throbbed horribly, her stomach cramping in pain as waves of dizziness and nausea overtook her. Someone had gripped her shoulder, was shaking her roughly and calling her name.

"Come on Rebecca, you have to wake up!"

She blinked, Jill's face appearing to her through a haze of red.

"Rebecca! Thank God," Jill exclaimed as he crushed her in a bear hug. She laughed, surprised that such a joyful noise could escape her after all she had been through. She reached up a shaking hand to wipe the blood from her eyes, pushing herself up into a sitting position. She could still hear gunshots and shouts, saw that the horse was somehow still standing. She grabbed her pistol and climbed to her feet as Jill turned back to the creature, shooting wildly at its thrashing tentacles. Rebecca limped up beside him, raising her own Glock and taking aim once more.

She emptied her clip in whatever part of the creature she could find, and when Barry finally brought out his Remington shotgun (Why exactly did he wait so long to pull that out?) and fired a shot directly between the B.O.W's eyes, the creature finally crashed to the floor, dead. The five of them were still for a moment, each of them silently counting their blessings before Chris finally spoke up.

"Right, time to get the fuck outta this hellhole."

"Here, here," Claire agreed, shoving a new clip into her Browning. The five of them ran, Jill with a supporting arm wrapped around Rebecca's waist, not stopping once until they reached the silver elevator doors, a shining beacon of escape. The former rookie smiled to herself as she ran, knowing that the successful infiltration of another Umbrella lab left the score at Good Guys: 4, evil pharmaceutical companies: 5. They were catching up, and soon there'd be nothing left of the company but the impact they'd had on people's lives. _And perhaps that's enough_, Rebecca considered as the team reached the safety of their armored van, piling into the unmarked vehicle and speeding off towards the sunrise. _None of us will ever forget what Umbrella put us through, the people we lost, but we can stop them from hurting anyone else. _

Smiling slightly to herself Rebecca reclined in the padded seat of the van, pulling out her med-kit and getting to work patching up the team.

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Hate it? Love it? Prefer Chips Ahoy or Oreo cookies? Let me know! *Srsly though, review*... :)


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